Soundfield Audio Monitor 1 - Page 6

FWIW, I posted my review of the SAM1 on my blog (see infra).

I didn't have much time to take measurements, as the next tour member had an impending trip abroad. But I did take some limited in-room measurements (using the Anthem Quick Measure feature) of the SAM1, as well as a KEF Q100 and Tannoy System 8 NFM II, with each speaker on the same stand at the same angle, and the mike at the same spot.

The SAM's bass peak is fairly broad which indicates it's more than a simple room interaction. I know it's too late now but you could've done a nearfield measurement to determine what the issue was. It's possible that you had set the level too high on the woofer to get the midbass balance you needed.

I had the soundfield M1 till last week and they are on their way to indiana.

First of all, i'd like to thank AJ for allowing the community to listen to these speakers. I came across these initially on the audiocircle forum, and a lot of people who heard them offered generous praise. The concept is unique and fills a gap in the audio market that no one (that i'm aware of) till now had addressed. A coincident driver with powered sub sounds so simple that its a wonder why no one tried this before. Everyone loves a monitor that puts out good bass (Eg: Look at the attention Sjofn Clue generated at the recent RMAF). Monitors are not physically imposing, and more often than not do a great job when it comes to imaging. And i've owned several monitors that are great from about 80hz and up but fall apart when it comes to bass. I like sealed speakers since the bass seems to be a lot more controlled and fast compared to ported speakers, but the downside is that they don't have an extension to speak of.

The M1 are perfect fit for me. They are a fairly large for a bookshelf, and weigh considerably more than other bookshelfs at almost 30lbs each. The sealed cabinet is off the shelf madisound cabinet, but has been modified internally, quite heavily i'd assume. The knuckle test reveals that it is very heavily braced. Most of your $$$ goes into whats inside these cabs. A KEF coincident driver with a 8" sub (i believe the production units have a different driver than the one that is in these tour versions) powered by 300w BASH amp. Looking at the cost of these drivers/amp alone, and what AJ is asking for these, it is no wonder that he doesn't rely on his audio business for daily bread

I can go on about how good they sound, but will fall far short of the tremendous effort that DS-21 has put into in his report on his blog above. I agree with his assessment ... they are truly remarkable speakers. The soundstage is huge, and yet they image like champs. You can crank them up real loud, and they don't break a sweat. My tastes in music has mellowed down the years ... i used to be a big metal/hard rock fan, but hardly listen to that genre these days. While auditioning these speakers, my playlist was largely made up of the below:

- Ondekoza - Fujiyama
- Dire Straits (All albums) - My fav band
- Mark Knopfler - Shangrila/Privateering
- Steely Dan - Gaucho/Aja
- Allan Taylor - Colour of the moon
- Natalie Merchant - Tigerlily
- Sara K - No cover/Play on words
- Tinariwen - Tassili
- Ali Farka Toure - In the heart of the moon/Talking TImbuktu
- An assortment of bollywood music

While i had heard the speakers at LSAF this year, i was not quite prepared for how much bass these put out until i heard a track from the album fujiyama. These are extremely dynamic speakers that don't sound compressed at all. I paired them with my yamaha rx-a3000 receiver, and later with Yaqin hybrid integrated amp, and the yaqin seemed to be a better fit for these. I compared these with my selah SSR (scanspeak driver w/ribbon tweeter), and found the M1 to be a bit more mellower in both mids and highs. But understand that SSR tend to sound a wee bit hot. But there was no comparison as far as the bass was concerned M1 dig into the 30s with ease, and sound very even from top to bottom. You can listen to them for ages without any ear fatigue.

I'd like to congratulate AJ on this wonderful speaker which is a welcome addition to the market and thank him for giving us an opportunity to listen to them in our homes.

I didn't post this until now since I didn't want to poison the well for auditions and since I also thought these were on my failing hard drive.

The red is nearfield at the woofer. The green measurements are at the same distance and at the same height as the coincident driver. The purple/blue measurement shows when the mic is moved further away (contrary to the label). I happened to use the second notch for listening since I crossed it over to a sub and it matched better at my listening position. The directivity measurements are excellent as well. Calibrated ECM 8000


Edited by kwarny - 10/25/12 at 10:14am

I'm pretty sure it's mostly room, given that it was common to all three speakers, and gave a small bookshelf speaker tuned to 50-60Hz extension down to 30Hz.

So any plans to make a monitor version that uses UniQ from R series or maybe even reference?

DS-21 nice review. These bad boys are sweet.
Edited by Del Cosmos - 10/25/12 at 9:56am

Great job DS-21. I particularly enjoyed your mention of stands able to take the force of rambunctious felines. This is something I had to experiment with too. I am running mine with a Dodd powered SDS-254, great combo. These speakers are just so endearing it can be hard for me to describe. I know for certain I am sold on active bass though. Any plans for an affordable OB AJ?

Great review. I really enjoyed reading it. Like you, I particpated in the SAM1 speaker tour, just for fun. But unlike you, I couldn't resist buying a pair for myself even though I wasn't in the market for speakers (I had already bought a pair of Salks early last year).

I also noticed your comment about the stands you used. I'm using the same stands (24" version) and am very happy with their appearance and stability. It would have been nice to be able to run the power cables through the stands, but it's not enough of an issue to motivate me to do surgery on them. I believe Del Cosmos is also using VTI stands with his SAM1s.

Frankly, I'm very happy with the way the SAM1s sound in my room and never tire of listening to them.

They've arrived at my work place. Unfortunately my shoulder replacement that I had Monday has kept me from getting there to bring them home. My wife's been my savior with daily tasks this week, we'll see if she tolerates moving speakers 1/2" at a time for hours on end!

Yep, VTI stands also!

I lost the link to the blog...can you paste the blog or the content of the blog future ref?

I can see why. Salks, for all of their craftsmanship, have some puzzling driver combinations. They don't exactly prioritize even midrange coverage!

I'm in the process of designing my next speakers. The main LCR units will be derived from a Pioneer EX in-wall speaker, with a magnesium cone/ceramic-graphite dome concentric driver that's in some ways an improvement on the concentric in the SAM1, and in some ways actually worse than the concentric in the SAM1. But I do at least have a mid/tweet crossover by the drivers' designer (Andrew Jones) as well. Midbasses are likely Pio EX as well. Left and right will sit on flanking subs, with the driver firing into a "manufactured corner" NHT 3.3-style. The subwoofer drivers will either be Aurasound 12's or JBL/Revel 15's.

If you're willing to cut off the power plug, you can run the power wire through the stand's post, and then reterminate it with another power plug. Ten minute job.

http://seriousaudioblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/listening-impression-with-cursory.html
Edited by DS-21 - 11/15/12 at 8:19am

Thanks. I dont have the power cable tucked in the stands. Too much work! haha...

Is there anybody in the Seattle/Bellevue area who bought those and would allow me to listen to them?

If you don't find someone, you might contact AJ to see if you can participate in the Monitor 1 speaker tour. I did just that and was able to audition them in my own home. The only cost was shipping to the next participant.

IMO, there's no substitute for being able to audition speakers/equipment in your own room.

I hope you're able to hear them as they are excellent speakers.

I also sent him an email. This forum is going to ruin me But I am looking for a small footprint speaker that will give me an enveloping sound. It would be fantastic if something like this and a small sub (I am ordering a SB12-NSD) could do everything.

From the glowing reviews I have read I do not think that this would be an issue, but how well does the sub integrate with everything? I demoed some Definitive Tech 8060 towers and I found that their sound was muddy and thought it might be the sub.

How well do they do in the low range? Would you say that you do not need a standalone subwoofer with those? I.e., could I get a cheaper subwoofer as a complement or would that be a bad idea?

And most importantly : Did you buy them?

It depends on your room and your tastes. I have two SB12-NSD's and would never have anything less in my main room. However the M1's had ample bass for 2 channel music and tv in my "casual" listening/viewing space.

They are a great sounding speaker (I'm in line to get a center channel at the moment) with and without a sub.

Although I didn't purchase the M1's, I've had discussions with AJ about a passive version and may have those in house someday soon.

If you're just talking about bass extension and output, so sub is needed. If you're talking about bass quality, no two full-range speakers are going to give you high-fidelity bass, whether they are SAM1's or Revel Salon2's or TAD Reference Ones. I bet in most rooms one could get a good result with the SAM1's run full-range (no highpass crossover) and two additional small subwoofers. (if one is going for bombastic movie special effects rather than accurate recreation of music, bigger subs are needed)

And honestly I would have bought them, but for the fact that I don't want the first thing people see when they turn from the hall to my living room to be a plate amp.

If you haven't read it yet, you can read my review here (post #118):

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1417246/soundfield-audio-monitor-1/90#post_22344759

The Monitor 1 is no slouch in the bass department and I can easily see someone using them full range without a sub for music. That said, in my room, speakers always sound better when I let my sub (SVS 16-46PC+) handle bass duties. Personally I would always use a quality sub with any speakers.

Since I had just bought a pair of Salk HT2-TLs the year before I was not in the market for speakers when I auditioned the Monitor 1. Famous last words.......... I liked the Monitor 1 so much I ended up buying a pair and have been enjoying them very much.

PS - Anyone interested in the Monitor 1 speaker tour can contact AJ at soundfieldaudio.net@gmail.com
Edited by Saturn94 - 11/15/12 at 8:47pm

Sad news, looks like the SAM1 is discontinued.

http://www.soundfieldaudio.net/Products.html

Also, the picture on the homepage has changed from a SAM1 to a new speaker using a woofer and a concentric driver of the same size.

Everybody knows or should have known that the SAM1 couldn't have lasted forever at or near that price. What a bargain it was!

Yeah, AJ recently mentioned to me that was going to happen. Glad I got my M1 before it was discontinued.

Hopefully AJ will be at CAF again and show his new model; I'd like to hear it.

The M2 is pretty impressive. I got to hear it for a short time at Axpona.

The VSFT looks interesting as well.

Sounds like from the several comments I've read the M2 was well received. AJ mentioned he's considering showing at CAF this year, so hopefully I'll get to hear them then.

Congrats AJ!

Anyone replace their M1 with M2?

I'm looking forward to hearing the M2 at CAF.

If so, contact me. While I couldn't use the SAM1's when I wrote my review of the tour speakers, we recently reconfigured a guest room into a study, and a pair would be great as nearfield monitors on my desk.